The expansion draft is scheduled for Decemeber 10th. Each team can protect 11 players. They can have a maximum of two players selected and after the first player is selected they get to protect another player (so in effect they always have 11 players protected). The home-grown players are exempt.

SB Nation has taken the draft to a ridiculously amazing level. They've asked each MLS team blog to play GM for a mock draft. The NYCFC and Orlando City blogs will pick from the unprotected players that are made available by the existing 19 SB Nation team blogs.

So far eight of the existing team blogs have posted their mock protected lists.

Chris Ritter - young midfielder, will be a defender
Marco Franco - young defender
Jeff Larentowicz - team captain, still a NE player to me
Lovel Palmer - a steady presence at RB, just re-signed for next year

Matt Watson - hard working mid, Yallop's favorite
Harry Shipp - our shining light, vision, touch, passing are a level above the rest
Collin Fernandez - new homegrown player (age17/18) some of you may have seen on youth MNT
Victor Pineda - spent last season at IndyEleven, should be more ready this year

So I left off the recovering Patrick Nyarko and many other borderline players like Razvan Cocis, Nyassi, Earnshaw etc because they are the types of veteran players that can be brought in or replaced.

MSantoine

Post #3

Monday December 1, 2014 6:12pm

Joined Nov 2012
Total Posts: 3,723

Good for them to do that.

One thing to keep in mind is usually in expansion drafts things dont always go as they seem. There are two huge things that occur.

1)- Salaries are hugely important. usually expansion teams dont want long term contracts or aging veterans. They usually understand its a process and dont expect to win the champiionship year one. For example, a guy like Goncalves on NE would probably not get taken even though he's a great defender. Guys like Beckerman would probably not be selected for the same reason.

2)- Trades. Usually expansion teams reach out to the teams and will make deals ahead of time. In NFL I know there were cases where Texans/Jaguars, etc would take a ceratain player and receive a 6th or 7th round pick. In NBA some teams traded 2nd round or future draft picks to Charlotte to either take a certain player or not take a certain player. With so many different drafts/allocations I would imagine Orlando and NYCFC will be piling up allocation money and other things to draft players on teams instead of a player they may rather draft.

Either way they are always fun to analyze and talk about after the fact

skanglesDC

Post #4

Tuesday December 2, 2014 12:43am

Joined Jan 2013
Total Posts: 5,401

Original post from MSantoine

Good for them to do that.

One thing to keep in mind is usually in expansion drafts things dont always go as they seem. There are two huge things that occur.

1)- Salaries are hugely important. usually expansion teams dont want long term contracts or aging veterans. They usually understand its a process and dont expect to win the champiionship year one. For example, a guy like Goncalves on NE would probably not get taken even though he's a great defender. Guys like Beckerman would probably not be selected for the same reason.

2)- Trades. Usually expansion teams reach out to the teams and will make deals ahead of time. In NFL I know there were cases where Texans/Jaguars, etc would take a ceratain player and receive a 6th or 7th round pick. In NBA some teams traded 2nd round or future draft picks to Charlotte to either take a certain player or not take a certain player. With so many different drafts/allocations I would imagine Orlando and NYCFC will be piling up allocation money and other things to draft players on teams instead of a player they may rather draft.

Either way they are always fun to analyze and talk about after the fact

Good points, the salary cap gets really interesting. If you take DC United for example, the guys at Black and Red United unanimously agree to leave Eddie Johnson exposed. They're split on whether to leave Sean Franklin or Chris Pontius unprotected but agree its one of the two and they think Chris Korb, Taylor Kemp and Davy Arnaud will be unprotected.

EJ is a Florida native and while he's a DP, his contract isn't huge ($600k). Orlando might have some interest in bringing him the local star but the price tag might discourage them.

Pontius is coming off of an injury plagued season and is on $380k. In my opinion, I think he gets taken if exposed despite his salary. It's swinging for a home run but if he can even get close to his old form he has potential to be an elite player and justify his salary. Maybe he doesn't get there but I'd take that risk if I'm NYCFC or Orlando. Franklin is on $300k so there's a fair chance he wouldn't get selected because of his salary.

On the flip side, Taylor Kemp is on $37k (seriously, how is that possible?!?!). He's surely gone if left unprotected. I don't think Kemp is anything special but he's young and serviceable and with his salary there's nothing to dislike.

blaise213

Post #5

Tuesday December 2, 2014 1:05am

Joined Sep 2012
Total Posts: 2,814

I just hope the salary cap increases and the DP's increase to 4

The NYCFC franchise would be pretty dangerous if 4 DP's were allowed.

tylercocinas

Post #6

Tuesday December 2, 2014 2:22am

Joined Aug 2012
Total Posts: 1,151

Original post from skangles
On the flip side, Taylor Kemp is on $37k (seriously, how is that possible?!?!). He's surely gone if left unprotected. I don't think Kemp is anything special but he's young and serviceable and with his salary there's nothing to dislike.

Spot on. He makes peanuts and was a surprising contributor at LB. With some defensive improvement he's a solid LB in MLS and there aren't many of those to begin with. His low salary allows us to us to use funds in other areas of need. Leave Korb unprotected, he has a much higher cap number and worst case Inkoom is there as backup next season if he gets selected.

Live490Texas

Post #7

Tuesday December 2, 2014 7:25pm

Joined Mar 2013
Total Posts: 1,158

And Fire dishing out cash for an unknown? DP money? Some Nigerian from Sweden. I wonder if they could have targeted Torres from Tigres or Corona from Xolos. How about Swagudelo instead of this guy?

recycledhumansDFWTX

Post #8

Tuesday December 2, 2014 8:45pm

Joined Nov 2012
Total Posts: 1,467

Original post from blaise213

I just hope the salary cap increases and the DP's increase to 4

The NYCFC franchise would be pretty dangerous if 4 DP's were allowed.

I see the cap being raised at least a season or two before they consider a 4th DP slot. I would imagine the league would want to allow the teams to adjust to the higher cap before allowing teams to potentially overextend themselves with letting them take a 4th DP.

skanglesDC

Post #9

Wednesday December 3, 2014 5:15am

Joined Jan 2013
Total Posts: 5,401

Wow, the Bent Musket hasn't protected either Teal Bunbury or Patrick Mullins in their Revs mock. If that turns out to be true, at $100k Mullins would be one of my first picks if I'm NYCFC or Orlando.

And Fire dishing out cash for an unknown? DP money? Some Nigerian from Sweden. I wonder if they could have targeted Torres from Tigres or Corona from Xolos. How about Swagudelo instead of this guy?

I know nothing about Kennedy other than what I just read. He could turn out to be a good player but it seems like a strange move. Its especially bizarre when the defending MVP is at the same club and is not on a DP contract. A guy like Wondo only earned his DP contract at the start of last season and he had been the Quakes MVP consistently since 2010.

There's more to every story naturally but I do think MLS clubs tend to throw out DP contracts willy nilly to foreign players in hopes of striking it big with a Barros Schelotto or Valeri type of player instead of looking after the guys who have been consistently performing in the league. Ironically, BWP the latest brilliant foreign signing, isnt even a DP (yet).

MSantoine

Post #11

Wednesday December 3, 2014 4:44pm

Joined Nov 2012
Total Posts: 3,723

Original post from skangles

Wow, the Bent Musket hasn't protected either Teal Bunbury or Patrick Mullins in their Revs mock. If that turns out to be true, at $100k Mullins would be one of my first picks if I'm NYCFC or Orlando.

Mullins will be protected. I would bet money on that. Id protect him over a guy like Soares or even Davies. Also I wouldnt be shocked if Jones isnt protected. Id be surprised if NYC or Orlando chose a DP like him. He's not a ticket seller and you risk pissing him off if you take him. Also as an expansion club he's not the kind of guy you necessary want. Also forgetting the convoluted MLS rules do DPs count as international players? If so then they wouldnt have to keep Kobayashi (who I doubt they keep anyways, Imbongo is cheaper and more valuable, especially if they lose Bunbury (FA)). My picks would be the following:

For GKs both Shuttleworth and Seitz are unprotected in the mocks and both are on around $100k.

I haven't given any consideration to building a team or covering all positions, I've just individually looked at the mock lists and thought these guys were good value and wouldn't be surprised to see several of them picked up if they are indeed unprotected.

And yes Mullins would be my first choice.

skanglesDC

Post #15

Thursday December 4, 2014 6:00am

Joined Jan 2013
Total Posts: 5,401

The Orlando and NYCFC Mock is up. The folks running these blogs are willing to spend a lot of money (more than I think the teams will spend in the real draft). I've added salary to provide an indication.